MaxGar
Member
Yeah Bermuda, Guam and Barbers Point versus Oklahoma
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TACAMO NFOs, how do you like it?
- Thread starter wonderb0iwl
- Start date
I’ll remind you that Oklahoma is the South Pacific of the Great Plains.
MaxGar
Member
I'll try to not be pessimistic and answer OP's questions, and maybe provide some experiences being a TACAMO NFO.
The crew management/politics part is more closely tied to being a mission commander, and all of problems/experiences that brings.
E.G.: if my qualified seat operator gets injured on the road, how can I cover down/replace them/be legal to fly, etc.
Back in the day, the leash was much longer. Your happiness revolves around jet health, and the planes aren't getting any younger.
There are exercises that can take you to new places, but 99% of that time, that new place is CONUS. I would fully expect to be in the Alert Facility when you aren't flying. You mentioned the coasts, but many days will be spent equidistant from both shores in the Midwest.
Yes, when you are in the air, you are watching a Matrix-style crawl of data feeds. If you are a trainee, you are studying to get qualified. If you're qualified, you are working on the mission report, working on messages, or otherwise killing time. It very quickly devolves into groundhog day.
The crew management/politics part is more closely tied to being a mission commander, and all of problems/experiences that brings.
E.G.: if my qualified seat operator gets injured on the road, how can I cover down/replace them/be legal to fly, etc.
I did not personally, there are a few who do, but they primarily have a leaf on their shoulders. VT-4 is a great place for exposure into the watered-down mission profiles that big wing NFOs fly. For the E-6 sims, it is comprised of navigating, aerial refueling, and reading simulated EAMs; none of which is done by an NFO on the E-6B today. You can't train for what the NFOs do in a non-secure environment, but just because it is classified, doesn't make it cool.
The famous Navy answer: It depends.
Back in the day, the leash was much longer. Your happiness revolves around jet health, and the planes aren't getting any younger.
There are exercises that can take you to new places, but 99% of that time, that new place is CONUS. I would fully expect to be in the Alert Facility when you aren't flying. You mentioned the coasts, but many days will be spent equidistant from both shores in the Midwest.
It is procedural, but you are training for a mission that has never been executed, and hopefully never will. The VP bubbas probably have diversity in their mission sets, for VQ(T) it is the same one in perpetuity.
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MaxGar
Member
Lots of people served in the battle of Klendathu, but I’d rather be in a spaceship than mobile infantry
I don’t know… the fleet got pretty trashed by Bug plasma. Good thing the Sky Marshal got shit-canned for that fiasco.Lots of people served in the battle of Klendathu, but I’d rather be in a spaceship than mobile infantry
Let me guess - you're from Buenos Aires 🙄
OK, Boomer.
Now do Lemoore, Fallon, Norfolk, versus Oklahoma. The Navy has great and bad duty stations in all communities.
@MaxGar sup bro, you're on shore tour now so you're not allowed to comment 
.
Basically everything he said, as an E-6 NFO I also would not recommend coming here, funding is low and jets are getting extremely bad, not enough mx.
Some silver lining pros for NFOs: very high clearance, moreso than the pilots, get to see some cool nuclear stuff once in a blue moon if you're into that. Day to day is very boring though. Very small community so it's easy to get a good fitrep as long as you aren't a complete shitbag, and it's pretty easy to do off-track stuff for your shoretour / put in a NFO to pilot lat transfer package, I believe the community has had at least one person picked up every year minimum for the past 6-7 years. Looks good on a resume, you get pretty valuable leadership skills, can be a Mission Commander in charge of a hundred-million dollar Nuclear Asset as a LTJG directing the jet to go (after OPS has called you to tell you where to go haha).
But yeah, I find myself missing the shit I did on the T-6 and actually being able to look outside and do anything Naval Aviation related. Also most of the airforce generals are huge PITA's to deal with, the Admirals aren't bad when you're doing the airforce side of the mission.
Don't expect to be able to leave the hooch in Travis. We have a new renovated one that's nice, but you're stuck there when you're deployed in Cali. Lots and lots of stupid decisions that get forced on crews and mission commanders because some high ranking officer is putting pressure on the community.
If I could re-do it, I would have tried to roll a class when mine didn't have any growler slots, or gone P-8s.
edit: Also, if you pay attention at all, you become an expert in multiple radio systems including the troubleshooting and maintenance of the system. I don't see this experience being useful anywhere except on this jet though.
.Basically everything he said, as an E-6 NFO I also would not recommend coming here, funding is low and jets are getting extremely bad, not enough mx.
Some silver lining pros for NFOs: very high clearance, moreso than the pilots, get to see some cool nuclear stuff once in a blue moon if you're into that. Day to day is very boring though. Very small community so it's easy to get a good fitrep as long as you aren't a complete shitbag, and it's pretty easy to do off-track stuff for your shoretour / put in a NFO to pilot lat transfer package, I believe the community has had at least one person picked up every year minimum for the past 6-7 years. Looks good on a resume, you get pretty valuable leadership skills, can be a Mission Commander in charge of a hundred-million dollar Nuclear Asset as a LTJG directing the jet to go (after OPS has called you to tell you where to go haha).
But yeah, I find myself missing the shit I did on the T-6 and actually being able to look outside and do anything Naval Aviation related. Also most of the airforce generals are huge PITA's to deal with, the Admirals aren't bad when you're doing the airforce side of the mission.
Don't expect to be able to leave the hooch in Travis. We have a new renovated one that's nice, but you're stuck there when you're deployed in Cali. Lots and lots of stupid decisions that get forced on crews and mission commanders because some high ranking officer is putting pressure on the community.
If I could re-do it, I would have tried to roll a class when mine didn't have any growler slots, or gone P-8s.
edit: Also, if you pay attention at all, you become an expert in multiple radio systems including the troubleshooting and maintenance of the system. I don't see this experience being useful anywhere except on this jet though.
This is sort of true of VP as well, though not as much as it was with the P-3.
At least that new hooch doesn't have signs everywhere to not stir up the dust because it is asbestos.@MaxGar sup bro, you're on shore tour now so you're not allowed to comment
Basically everything he said, as an E-6 NFO I also would not recommend coming here, funding is low and jets are getting extremely bad, not enough mx.
Some silver lining pros for NFOs: very high clearance, moreso than the pilots, get to see some cool nuclear stuff once in a blue moon if you're into that. Day to day is very boring though. Very small community so it's easy to get a good fitrep as long as you aren't a complete shitbag, and it's pretty easy to do off-track stuff for your shoretour / put in a NFO to pilot lat transfer package, I believe the community has had at least one person picked up every year minimum for the past 6-7 years. Looks good on a resume, you get pretty valuable leadership skills, can be a Mission Commander in charge of a hundred-million dollar Nuclear Asset as a LTJG directing the jet to go (after OPS has called you to tell you where to go haha).
But yeah, I find myself missing the shit I did on the T-6 and actually being able to look outside and do anything Naval Aviation related. Also most of the airforce generals are huge PITA's to deal with, the Admirals aren't bad when you're doing the airforce side of the mission.
Don't expect to be able to leave the hooch in Travis. We have a new renovated one that's nice, but you're stuck there when you're deployed in Cali. Lots and lots of stupid decisions that get forced on crews and mission commanders because some high ranking officer is putting pressure on the community.
If I could re-do it, I would have tried to roll a class when mine didn't have any growler slots, or gone P-8s.
edit: Also, if you pay attention at all, you become an expert in multiple radio systems including the troubleshooting and maintenance of the system. I don't see this experience being useful anywhere except on this jet though.